Werner Mummert: Smooth Lovat with Fordite Tobacco Pipe

While Werner Mummert's style often produces pipes with large proportions and unexpected geometry, this Lovat is more traditionally inclined, though its dimensions are sturdy and resolute. The shank is a long cylindrical form leading to the accent of Fordite, that accent containing fine wavering lines of color. The mouthpiece is abruptly short, which is correct for the Lovat and contributing to the piece's overall classicism. The bowl is slightly canted to the fore, with a flat rim terminating the soft curvature of the flanks as they rise to meet it, and is studded with birdseye. A conservatively dark stain dominates the stummel, but not without revealing contrast-stained vertical grain surrounding the bowl and well situated to garner the admiration of anyone who knows briar. The stummel is also notably finished in Japanese Urushi Lacquer, contributing to its ultra-glossy appearance that will hold a sheen for longer than non-Urushi finished pieces. Proportioned for easy gripping, with a transition that maintains the bowl's shaping thanks to prominent cheeking, this piece is one that will commend itself in any collection.